heinkiohs



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet; 2. G. P. HEINRICHS.

v ELEGTRIU LAMP. No. 817,777. Patented May 12, 1885.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

' O. F. HEINRIOHS.

. ELECTRIC LAMP. No.- 317,777. Patented May 12, 1885.

N. PETERS. Pham-Lilhognphlr. wzshingwn. 11a

4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(No Model.)

0. P. HEINRIGHS. ELECTRIC LAMP.

Patented May 12, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES l3. HEINRIGHS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC LAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,777, dated May 12, 1885.

Application filed December 13, 1884. (No model.) Patented in England November 13, 1878, No. 4,595, November 11. 1879, No. 4,589, and November 0, 1880, No. 4,608; in France May 13, 1870, No. 130,646, and May 11, 1881, Jo. 142,799, and in Germany July 1, 1879, No. 10,054, May 21, 1850,No.14,64$, and May 25, 1881, No. 19,238.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES FREDERICK HEINRIoHs, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric Lamps; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to that class of electric lamps in which the are system is to be employed.

Heretofore circular or curved carbon pencils have been suggested and illustrated, in which one pencil was'represented as fixed immovably to a standard on which the holder of the other carbon was pivoted, whereby the other carbon was rendered movable and was adapted to approach the fixed carbon to compensate for the consumption of the carbon during the operation of the lamp. It is sufficient to note one objection to this construction and arrangement of the curved carbons, that the position of the arc would be subject to constant variation, and, so far as I am aware, a lamp of this construction was never put to practical use. Giroular pencils or carbons have also been devised in which each pencil was to be made in the form of a complete circle or ring and mounted upon a wheel, the pair of circular pencils being mounted in the same plane and approaching each other at the peripheries to form the are at the points of nearest approach. These circular pencils are shown in the British Patent No. 1,446, of 1874. These circular pencils are practically the peripheries of wheels.

The improvements herein described in curved carbon pencils for electric lamps are distinguished from the form first described above in this, that the two pencils constituting the pair are both made to approach each other so as to maintain the are always at the same point. They are distinguished from the second form described in this, that the pencils do not form complete rings, but are segments of rings and form the are between the ends of the segments; and my invention may be in general terms stated to consist of a pair of curved carbon pencils in an electric lamp insulated from each other, combined with mechanism whereby both are made to move toward each other in a properly-regulated manner and to maintain the point of combustion substantially in one place.

It consists, in the second place, in mechanism comprising the details of construction whereby the operation of the pencils above indicated ispractically effected.

These details, as well as the general construction, I have hereinafter fully explained.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents an elevation of a lamp fitted with curved carbons, with the mechanism for operating the same in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 are details detached. Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are modifications, all as hereinafter fully described.

- Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3,ff represent the walls of a regulator box or case, and from the lower part thereof are suspended brackets h if, insulated from each other by means of slate or other non-conducting strips, as at 8'8 Fixed journals are formed on the lower ends and project from these brackets, and upon sleeves thereon the arms Z) If have their bearings. These arms extend up to within a short distance of the bottom of the regulator-box and carry upon their upper ends holders for the curved carbon pencils 0 0 which are held therein by set-screws, as shown.

The mechanism by which the carbon pencils are moved and regulated is as follows: Secured to the same sleeves upon which the arms b b are respectively fixed are flanged wheels, marked, respectively, 6 0, between the sup porting-brackets and the arms b If. Secured to the periphery of these wheels are linked chains to a", which extend up into the regulator-box, where they are secured to flanged wheels 6 6 the wheel 0 being of larger circumference than the wheel 0, for a purpose hereinafter set forth. These wheels are on a drum, (1, on a shaft, d. A gear-wheel, 8, is fixed to this shaft, and motion is communicated from the armatures of the magnets m m through a train ofgearing, as shown, and here inafter more particularly described. hen a current is sent through the lamp, as shown in Fig. 1, it passes through magnets m m attracting armatures a a thus bringing levers a, a and i; into action. The lever 11, by leaving the position shown in dotted lines, releases the pawl a from the point 3 and drops it into the teeth of the ratchet-wheel Z, which it turns suiiieiently to separate the carbons through the described gearing, for the formation of the are. Continuing its movement the lever 12 lifts the pawl u out of the teeth of the ratchetwheel Z by means of a stud, 1, thus leaving the wheel free; but at the same time the armature a with the lever a it comes into action, and the pallet 00 prevents the escapement wheel it from returning, and in this way the carbons will be held separated. IVhen the distance between the carbon points hecomes too great, owing to their burning away, the current becomes feeble, and the magnet m loses some of its power of attraction, thus allowing the spring p to come into action, which forces lever a a with pallet 00 backward, and at the same time the pallet r (pivoted at r on lever a is pressed forward as far as stop-screw s will allow. This motion permits the escapement-wheel 76 to advance seveneighths part of a tooth, more or less, the wheel being then stopped by the pallet 0. By this action the carbons are brought into sufficiently close contact to increase the current passing through them, and thus the magnet m gains power and the armature a will again be attracted to it. The lever a a presses pallet 1 against stud 1-, and by this means the said pallet is caused to leave the escapementwheel, while the pallet so returns and permits said wheel to complete the motion of the other eighth part of a tooth. Through the alternating play of the two pallets a; and 1' into the escapement-wheel its rotation will be regulated so as to insure the maintenance of the correct distance between the carbon points. When no current passes through the lamp, spring p will pull lever 02 12 against stop r, thus withdrawing both pallets 00 and 1" from wheel 70, and armature a with lever 1) will be in the position indicated by dotted lines, while pawl a will be lifted out of the ratehet-wheel Z by reason of its contact with screw 3, so that the carbons may come together and into contact by their own weight. Thus if the current should be momentarily stopped, or if by accident a piece of the carbon pencil should be broken off, the carbons will automatically come into immediate contact and permit the reformation of the are.

In Fig. 5 is shown a modification of the construction of the parts for operating and controlling the carbons. From the regulatorboX two ordinary brackets insulated from each other depend. The carbon-holders a c are pivoted to spindles (not shown) which have a common center in the brackets near the end thereof. To the ends of the arms a a two pinions are fixed, (one being shown at p,) which gear, respectively, with racks 1- r", the said racks extending up into the regulatorframe, where they are in gear with the pinions 12* of different diameter, as shown. These pinions gear with a worm, 20, which may be in connection with any suitable mechanism operated by the magnet.

It will be obvious that the carbons can only be brought together or separated in this construction by the worm-screw 10 being turned in one direction or the other.

In order to facilitate the action of the parts, I fix weights a: x to the racks r r, so as to balance, as near as possible, the weight of the arms a. a which hold the carbons.

Fig. 6 is another modification where two semicircular carbons are employed, as here tofore; but the negative carbon is about onehalf the diameter of the positive, and the feed of the carbons is effected by the magnetic attracting power of the magnet an acting as a brake upon the circumference of the segmentshaped armature 0, while the carbons are separated by an arrangement of racks and pinions, substantially as shown. By this construction I simplify the construction of the lamp mechanism in lamps where continuous currents are employed, as both carbon-holders will have an equal motion.

In Figs. 7 and S I show a lamp arrangement in which I have adopted worm-screws instead of racks to connect the carbon-holder arms with the regulating mechanism. The regulating mechanism I have actuated by an armature playing in front of the poles of the electro-magnet m m. The worm-screws to 10* have on their upper extremities cog-wheels e 6*, which gear into each other. The cogwheel 0 is insulated from the worm-screw spindle w. The spindle of the worm-screw w carries the two ratchet-wheels 7c Z. On the shaft 8 is fixed the armature a and the levere with thepallets a y. When the ratchet-wheels are moved to the right or to the left, the motion will be transmitted to both cog-wheels c 0*, and the two worm-screws 20 w' to the wormwheel w, and a similar wheel arranged opposite. (Not shown.) To these latter wheels are fixed the earbon-holder arms a a", so that the carbon points can be separated or closed, as in other arrangements.

I will now describe a few modifications of these lamp mechanisms. Fig. 10 shows the ratchet-wheel 7; Z, the lever 11 with the pallets n y; but instead of being actuated by the double-cam armature the lever 21 is actuated by the soft-iron core 0 and solenoid, in the known manner. Fig. 9 is a modification of the last arrangement. Here the soft-iron core has a spiral groove, w, on its circumference, in which the fixed pin p is fitted. When the core 0 is drawn into the solenoid s, the rotary motion so produced will actuate the feeding mechanism.

I do not limit myself to the particular construction and arrangement of the devices hereinbefore described for operating and holding the two carbon pencils, as they may be changed in many ways without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In an electric lamp, a pair of curved carbon pencils mounted upon movable arms insulated from each other and combined with moving and regulating mechanism whereby said pencils, when the lamp is in operation, are caused to approach each other and to maintain the are constantly at substantially the same point.

2. In an electric-arc lamp, a pair of curved carbon pencils mounted upon movable arms insulated from each other and depending in a vertical plane, electro-magnets in the lampcircuit with pawl and ratchet mechanism and gearing connecting the same to a shaft, connection between said shaft and the shaft on which the pencil-arms are pivoted, whereby the pencils are allowed to drop and approach each other by gravity, and their position determined, all substantially as shown.

CHARLES F. HEINRIGHS.

WVitnesses:

F. L. MIDDLETON, WALTER DONALDSON. 

